"Another voting huh?" A young Diyan sighed while walking to the main hall, the Diyan then heard from behind him "Hey Darin!", he turned to the voice, and noticed it was his friend, a girl a bit younger than he was, "Hey Ilia, do you know what today’s vote is about?" "Not really, but I've heard that it's not the same as normal... I think it's about something big" they arrived at the main hall and went to the voting area"Well then, good luck with voting" Darin said, and he went to a voting booth, he pulled the curtain behind him, and then started to read what the vote was all about

Dear voter,

Today's vote is a very important one, because of monetary problems we needed to find a way to increase our trade, to do that, we need to extend Duraia to the oceans, The only problem with that being, that Kia'mar won't allow that obviously, and the fact that they don't want to trade with us, brings us to the statement:

Should we, Duraia, go to war with Kia'mar in order to establish trade with other countries, expanding our economy, health and happiness?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No

Darin was stunned after reading this, 'there hasn't been a war of us in over a hundred years!' he thought, 'however, we indeed have a shortage on water and money, and our lives are rather crappy, compared to the lives of the people of Kia'mar' he thought very hard for several minutes, then he surprisingly votedYes.

Darin got out of the voting booth and several moments later, Ilia also came out "Whoa, that was a hard vote, what did you vote?" she said"Uuhm, we're not allowed to talk about that until after everybody is done with voting""Aww, you can ignore the rules just for once""No I can't, and especially not here about this, you do not want our country to become corrupt right? So let's just wait with talking about this until after the voting is done""Okay"They walked outside "Well then, it's time to go to work" Ilia said"Yea, I should also be going to work" Darin answered, and they both went into other directions.Darin builds houses, buildings and walls for a living, and also maintains them together with some other people, it's a decent job, that pays decently, not the best, but it's a good job.

"Okay, everybody's here, we can begin" Dokim said, a strong, bit on the old side man who is Darin's boss "Today we're going to do some maintenance work, a couple of houses on the east side of town have been damaged by last night's sandstorm, and off course, we're going to repair it, you know what to do, so let's go"They went to the east side of the town, the houses didn't look that bad, just some scooped away sand, a collapsed house connection here and there, so they began restoring it.

After several hours of work, they had finished the connection, the people of who the connection was, were very grateful, they even offered some food out of gratitude. "Good job, you guys even made it stronger than it was before" Dokim said "By the way, yesterdays votes have given us a new job for tomorrow, we'll be expanding the stables then, anyway, you all did well, you've got the rest of the day off" he continued, everybody cheered and made their way home."Hmm... apparently everybody has voted" Darin said to himself, while looking at the flags hanging from the main building, these flags indicated whether there was going to be, is or was a voting.At that moment, a hand smacked against his back, he looked behind him, and saw Ilia with a big smile "So, now we can talk about what we've voted" She said "It really was a hard vote, but I voted yes" "I did too" Darin said "Well, we won't know the result for another three days, as this was a national vote, and not just a regional" "Yea, I know, I really want to know the result, I've never seen a war before, I have heard that there are several wars in the north, with great heroes and epic battles" "Yea, well, we'll only find out in three days what will happen, so, what did you do at work today?" "Well, same as always, feed the noldirs, clean up the stables and all that stuff". Ilia earns her money by working at the local stables, where she takes care of Noldirs, creatures with hooves much like those of a camel, though the rest of the body more represents a horse. "Oh, and Solni started to teach me how to ride a Noldir!" "Let me guess, you fell off many times?" "No!....okay, maybe four or five times, but I did manage to stay on eventually!" Darin laughed "You can be so clumsy at times you know that?" "Hey! It's not polite to say that to a lady!" "You, a lady?" Darin laughed even more "Yea yea, you can stop making fun of me now!" Ilia responded a bit annoyed "Okay, okay, I'll stop" Darin said still laughing a bit "anyway, I think I'll be going home" "Yea, me too" and so, they left for their homes.

3 days later.

Darin rudely awakened from his sleep from someone knocking on his door, he got up, put on some clothes and walked to the door and opened it, a super enthusiastic Ilia stood there "A messenger just returned with the results of the election!" "What? Why are you so enthusiastic about that market we voted for yesterday?" "No, I mean the vote of three days ago!" "Oh! Why didn't you say so!" he said without waiting for an answer, he started walking towards the main hall "That's what I sai..." "Are you coming?" Darin wasn't listening at all" "Yes, I'm coming" Ilia responded and she ran a bit to get to Darin.On the plaza in front of the main hall, many people had already gathered, the messenger stood in front of everyone, the vote supervisor stood next to him and yelled "Has everybody gathered?" Almost everyone said yes"Well then, we have all gathered here, for this messenger to speak about the result of the vote, three days ago, in other words, shall we go to war, or not? So, messenger, tell us, are we going to war, with the great Kia'mar empire?" the messenger seemed a bit annoyed by the way the vote supervisor talked, he obviously thought that he was making too big of a fuss out of it, Darin thought the same "Well, we're going to war, a shipment of basic weaponry will arrive here tomorrow, this is for the people who will stay here to defend and run this village, the rest will be heading to the borders, everybody who wants to fight at the borders should have their stuff packed by tomorrow when the sun has just risen, take enough provisions with you for two days of travel", with that the messenger went into the main hall.

"What do you think?" Darin said "Should we go?" "I don't know, going is somewhat the same as leaving our village to die" Ilia responded "Yes, but not going, is like leaving our country to die" "Aaah, such a hard choice!" "Apparently we aren't the only ones thinking that" Darin said, pointing at the rest of the crowd, everybody was discussing what to do, "Well, we still have 'till tomorrow to choose, then we have to start packing." Darin continued "That doesn't make the choice any easier" Ilia responded "It's better to have more time for a difficult decision than just a short time, right?" "Sometimes" "How do you mean, sometimes?" "Well, the more time you have, the more time you have to start doubting" "There you've got a point" He looked up, he then noticed something "No flags today?" "Huh?" "There are no flags on the grand hall" "That's new, no voting right?" "Yes... odd, I can't recall there ever being a vote less day" "I have decided!" Ilia said with a firm voice "Decided on what?" "I'm going with the messenger" "Weren't you just saying it was a hard decision?" "Yes, but I don't think it's best not to think too much about it, just choose" "Well, It'd be too lonely if you wouldn't be here" "Hey, don't get all sensitive here now!" "It wouldn't hurt you to be somewhat sensitive sometimes too you know" "And for you it wouldn't hurt to be less sensitive" "Ah well, I'll be joining the messenger too then, well then, I'm going to my boss to ask for my loan, and to quit with it."

The next day Darin was already done with packing his stuff and headed to Ilia's house, when he got there, he heard a frustrated yelling from Ilia "What the hell am I supposed to take with me!?" Darin then knocked on the door, and a moment later it opened up, and Ilia stood there "Oh, Hi Darin, how is the packing going?" "I'm already done, having problems with packing?" "Uuhm... yea, a bit" "Need some help?" "Yes, help would be really appreciated" she led Darin to her room, where a large bag with all kinds of useless stuff in, on and around it was lying on the bed "Uuhm... I doubt you need so much... we're preparing for a war, you'll have to take everything you put in that bag with most of the time probably" "I know, but... how can I just leave this behind?" "We'll probably return here someday won't we?" "Yes, you're right; I'll just ... leave this stuff here then?" "Yes, Just take clothes with you that are good for desert walking, something to store water in, and some food" "What?! That little?" "We'll get most of the stuff at the border" "Okay, wait a second" Ilia went into the kitchen, took some food and put it in a bag, she then grabbed a leather bag and went to the well to fill it "I'm done" she said after coming out of her room dressed in a white-ish robe and wearing a white piece of cloth around her neck, Darin was wearing almost the same kind of clothing, it was clothing that their village used when traveling through the desert, every village has a different kind of clothing for traveling, but all serve the same function.Darin went back to his house to get his bag, and went together with Ilia to the main hall, where the messenger stood with already many people gathered, on the other side of the square stood a cart with shiny stuff in it where people who stayed were looking into, it was the cart with the weapons, they were copper and iron sickles mostly, also some fans on sticks, and some primitive throwing spears.Darin then noticed, that Ilia was distracted by something else: Several beautiful Noldirs were standing in front of some other, bigger carts, Ilia was next to them, stroking a brown one with almost mist like spots on it"All who want to fight at the borders should step in the carts" the messenger announced and a lot of people started to go into the carts, which appeared to be a bit too full, so only few could sit comfortably, while the rest had to stand.

The travel wasn't very enjoyable, mostly becouse of the lack of confort, and the only direction the people could look, was to the rear, which only showed a decent road with tracks of the cart and the Noldirs on it, and on both sides of that road, sand, nothing but sand, only on very rare occasions could they see a animal or plant."I do hope that when we get to the base for a stop, that we'll get a better transport" one of the Diyan said "Do you realy think it'll be better? I know where we're going, and it ain't to a better road, so expect us to be walking or riding noldirs to the border" Another Diyan said "What!? But I can't ride a Noldir!" "Then it's just walking isn't it?" "Stop nagging, we got into this to become soldiers, richmen" a broad shouldered Diyan said, silencing them both."Darin, can you see the sun?" Ilia asked "Yes, I can, we've been on the road for about... 5 hours now" Darin responded "Aww... Well then, better make the best of it".The rest of they journey, they talked, played word games and tried everything to fight the boredom, after the first day of travel, they finally arived in a settlement, it seemed to be rather improvised, and seemed to be only made in a few days time, it was a temporary military outpost, people from all kinds of villages were walking around, following messengers to huts, practicing with weapons, and fitting armor, the messenger of 'Darin's' cart had gotten off and was now telling them to get out of it "We'll be waiting here until all the villages have gathered, in the meantime, you can stay in that hut, there will be armor and weapons ready for you there, the training yards are there, if you want to actualy be usefull, you should go there oftenly, also a letter will be with your armor and weapons, which will inform you of your rank and duties when we get to the border, that is all, if you have questions, come to me, I'll be in the biggest hut at most times. And with that, everybody went out of the cart, stretching and making relieved sounds."Ah, finally I can stretch my legs!" Ilia said, "Let's head for the hut, I want to see what my rank is" "Allright" Darin said, following Ilia to the tent. As they entered the tent, they already saw many people were inside, reading their orders, fitting their armors, or just talking to eachother, Ilia and Darin looked around, looking for a letter with their name on it, Ilia was the first to find hers, and Darin found his near the armor next to Ilia, they both opened the letter and read

Darin of Indiral,

You are hereby officially a soldier of Duraia.As a soldier of Duraia, you are required to *Follow orders when given by a Duraia officer with a higher rank *Do anything that is good to Duraia *Fight in the name of Duraia *Make yourself more able to fight for Duraia

The rank you have been assined to is: Frontline soldierAs this rank, you are required to train well, be able to fight with many people at a time, and you will server under Frontline Commander Soldar.Good luck.

"Hmm... A frontline soldier, right? Interresting, what are you Ilia?" Darin asked "Uuhm.. I'm a scout, according to this letter" she responded "Which means I'll be riding a Noldir, however... I'm not realy good at that yet" "I'm sure you'll do just fine" Darin said while trying on his armor, it was a decently simple armor, which fitted, and was supposed to be worn over his robe, it consisted of a simple iron chestplate, leather gloves, a simple helmet, and strong leather shoes.

Last edited by Kamica on Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:44 am; edited 10 times in total

I'll try to do more, more oftenly... It goes so slow, becouse I only write when I feel like it XD, I'll try to release something on a weekly basis now though, we'll see if I can keep myself to that XD.

Edit: I've run it through a spelling checker, most spelling errors should be out of it now, if you find any still there, do tell me, so I can hit Word =3